player loans: an alternative to tanking?

Let's say, hypothetically, gay and derozan were to have season-ending injuries in the first game of next season. Wouldn't this be in the best long-term interests of the team? We would instantly become one of the favourites to land wiggins, and we would retain gay and derozan as assets, either for trade, or to play alongside whomever we draft. We would only have to sacrifice one year. The problem of whether to tank or hang on to our assets would be solved. We could do both.

If you agree with the above, then the league has a problem. When the best-case scenario for a team is that its star players get hurt, what kind of model for success is that? But the example of the spurs bears out the idea (with duncan being drafted the year robinson got hurt). The celtics are fortunate to be in a similar situation with rondo being out- their rebuild might only take one year. The bulls and the pacers are similar cases, where star talent (rose and george) were drafted onto already strong cores (not through injury, but mainly through luck). Most of the other strong teams in the league (heat, lakers, nets, mavs, knicks) are destination franchises whose model for success cannot be copied by a team like toronto.

Ok, so season-ending injuries to gay and derozan are unlikely and probably not desirable (since it might adversely affect their future value). But what if the league allowed teams to loan their good players to teams in contention? Wouldn't this be a win-win for all concerned? It would increase the competition at the top, while teams like Toronto could go for draft position while maintaining a core of good players. Loans exist in european football, although this movement is mainly in the opposite direction, where top teams loan out their young players to smaller clubs to have them gain experience. This could also be made part of an nba loan system, where in return for a year of derozan, we could get a year of steven adams. I would propose that the salary of the loaned player would be paid by the receiving team, so that the cap would still function to maintain competitive balance.

I'm just saying, after experiencing success going back to play for a loser would seem a lot less desirable. More than it already was.

How is that any different from being traded after winning a championship or close to it? Or being a FA and NOT being resigned by the team that won it all. Players would have to suck it up, like the currently do. That said, I'm sure it's a deal most players would love to take. Get to play in the playoffs as opposed to not playing the playoffs? If anything I think the players that came back would be more motivated to do it for their own team.

It would still be difficult to pull off in the NBA because of salary cap restrictions... I guess theoretically, I think it is possible under the CBA, two teams could agree to a deal, and then agree to make the same deal in the opposite direction at the end of the season. I wonder how the nba would react if the teams announced their intention of doing a double-trade in that manner.

However, instead of loaning players to take advantage of the lottery, the NBA should just change the draft lottery so it doesn't incentivize players to be bad.

loaning players out could be interesting, but I'd rather not see it happen. The NBA already has something sort of similar with the D-League and having young players play in european leagues. I guess the raptors could just send Rudy, Demar, Lowry, and Amir, to the D-League for the season.

I also wonder what would happen if a team tried to send it's 4 best veterans to the d-league, what would the NBA do?

I'm secretly hoping that teams tank SO openly for the 2014 draft that the NBA decides to change how it works.

"We only have one rule on this team. What is that rule? E.L.E. That's right's, E.L.E, and what does E.L.E. stand for? EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY. Right there up on the wall, because this isn't just a basketball team, this is a lifestyle. ~ Jackie Moon

....However, instead of loaning players to take advantage of the lottery, the NBA should just change the draft lottery so it doesn't incentivize players to be bad...

Ahhh! There's the rub. Some pretty good minds have tried to come up with a solution to that one. In one sense I liked the old sports model, where teams could only draft players from within a (somewhat local) specific geographic area. There was a lot of hometown feel to those days. And the concept of everyone flocking to a major market team wasn't so current.

You could change it to a system that awarded penalty points to teams that sat players during or towards the end of the season, or required medical assessments of players that were sitting out because of "injuries" but that would likely be unwieldy.

Could just bring back Stern, once a year, and have him assign players entering the draft to whatever teams he felt should get them. Pay him a huge salary to do it, but allow the GM's to vote on whether he comes back again the next year. Would only happen with a two thirds majority. That way he would have to satisfy 20 teams out of 30 each year. That would get rid of stupid chancy ping pong balls. He would have to pay for his own scouts to do a rigorous talent assessment and also an analysis of team needs.

Huh? Am I missing something? Neither your fan base nor the NBA would allow a team to "loan out" their best players to another team? eg. what are the implications or motivations of choosing the receiving team? This is league sanctioned tanking & champioship fixing at the same time.

If one remembers the Spurs were heavily fined for sitting out players at a Miami game. One of the reasons: those who paid for a ticket in Miami expected a proper representation of the opposing team. Here you are willfully diminishing your own club for all the home games? This is entirely different from choosing a specific strategy to retool/rebuild your team...and you pay the price/reap the reward over a period of time for choosing a course of action. Near as I can see the proposal is not team-building but an effort to keep the fantasy sports participants happy possibly.

what are the implications or motivations of choosing the receiving team? This is league sanctioned tanking & champioship fixing at the same time.

I think a detail like this can be worked out. One possible solution would be to have a waiver order, so that teams have access to players put on loan in reverse order of the standings from the year before. Once they acquire a player, they move to the back of the line. Hence, the system would benefit teams more on the fringes of competing rather than resulting in championship fixing.

Bendit wrote:

Here you are willfully diminishing your own club for all the home games?

That's the definition of tanking, yes. Short-term pain, long-term gain. In this case, the short-term pain is shorter because you only have to loan a player for one year, instead of trading him away for good.

ezz_bee wrote:

I guess the raptors could just send Rudy, Demar, Lowry, and Amir, to the D-League for the season.

Although seeing gay and derozan sent to the d league would be high comedy, I think it's even less realistic than the loan idea. Yes, it's just as good for the raptors, but it would be a situation similar to popovich benching duncan in that miami game. I don't think the league would allow its best players to be benched like that, for a whole season. And the players wouldn't accept it either.

But I think there should be some acceptable way of doing the equivalent of sending good players to the d league, because I think such a move would be in the best interests of the team going forward, especially for this year.